Maple

Ch13

This is a very close continuation of the previous chapter, so if you've read it a long time ago, I advice rereading the last few paragraphs. 

Enjoy :)

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Maple

It wasn't really my mom, obviously, but I couldn't very well tell them that it was the police. The police were calling me. It was Officer Chloe. I thought fast, I could make this work.

"My mom will freak if I don’t pick up" I squeaked, hoping I sounded convincing "she knows I'm here, she'll come for me." I realized that I was not half bad at lying. David's eyes were widening further with every sentence I said. He looked utterly confused.

The leader, Cyrus, clicked his tongue. He was clearly annoyed.

"Fine, pick it up," he said finally, "but if you say anything out of line, if you even hint at anything, then none of you are getting out of here alive." I gulped and nodded, before answering the call and raising the phone to my ear.

"Put it on speaker," ordered Derek. Cyrus quickly shook his head and shushed him.

"She'll hear us then, just make sure she doesn't tell her anything," he asserted and the rest of the gang nodded understandingly.

"Hey Maple, it's Officer Chloe here," came the cheery voice from my phone. I tried to remember how I used to talk to my mom, but just decided to go monotone when I couldn't recall it exactly.

"Hi Mom," I replied. There was a stunned silence on the other side, so I took charge of the conversation. "You know where I am! I told you I'm going to the cinema downtown with some friends."

"Maple, are you OK?" she finally asked after a stretch of silence.

"No," I pressed, hoping she'd understand "after the cinema we decided to go to a restaurant for dinner."

I could see the guys around me getting impatient. Cyrus rolled his eyes and motioned for me to hurry up. I couldn't let this chance slip away. I had to make her realize that something was wrong without actually telling her.

"What are you talking about?" Chloe interrogated, sounding confused and slightly irritated.

"That guy," I said slowly.

"Who? What are you talking about?" I gave her a second to figure it out. "Oh, you mean your stalker? That's what I called…"

"Did he have friends?" I cut her off. There was a long silence again.

"Are you safe? Can you talk?" She finally asked.

"No"

"How many are there?"

I looked around. There were a lot of them, maybe about eleven or twelve, and they all looked pissed at me.

"I'll be late," I repeated again, so the gang members don't get suspicious.

"You said the downtown cinema? Near the mall?"

"Yes, but we're on our way to a restaurant"

"Do you know what it's called?"

I put the phone down and turned to Max.

"What's the restaurant called?" I asked."My mom wants to know."

"Steak 'n Steam," he answered after overcoming the initial shock.

I told Chloe the place and she said that she'll find us as soon as she can.